Two Days of Accountability

August 17, 2010

Yesterday, I started my part of Project Accountable. This is an effort put together by a friend of mine… another Chris, Chris Johnson. Basically, it’s our way of being accountable for the goals we’ve set.

My goal? To make $50,000 by 12/31/2010. Basically, four and a half months from now. Stop laughing. You have no idea the amount of hustle I have…

You see, my problem is that I’ve mistaken planning my business with growing my business. Big difference, and I’d argue that many of you reading this have, or are making, this same mistake. I can’t think of how many Fridays I’ve said to myself, “Monday… Monday is the day! Monday, I’m going to absolutely crush it!” But then Monday comes… and I just write another plan. My wife and another friend of mine have both previously charged me as guilty of over planning (*another instance of my wife being right about nearly everything). You can relate. Don’t kid yourself.

My commitment in this project is to take 90 minutes of my day, everyday, and commit that time to making phone calls to generate leads, to generate activity, to generate revenue. You know… sales 101. Ideally, I make 35 contacts a day that will lead to 2 sales a day.

So what’s happened after just 180 minutes into Project Accountable?

I’ve only made 33 contacts. I’m at less than 50% of where I want to be. But I have generated leads; three to be exact. Hey, it’s three more than I would have gotten out of just planning. And do you know what I’ve learned so far? I’ve learned that all my previous planning… sucks. But by just throwing myself to the fire, I am learning what’s important to plan. And in the process I’m learning exactly what I need to do differently to obtain my goal. Learning and planning are two different animals.

Dedicating these 180 minutes has also reduced my stress level, and freed up time for me to do things like… write a blog post. Something I haven’t done since June. And while the day is still young, I can go focus 150% of my energy on wrapping up some pending projects. Most of the time, I’m wrapped up in stress… my by product of over planning.

So what are you gonna do to grow your business? How are you holding yourself accountable?